BMW i4 M50 vs M3 Competition: which is FASTER?

50 years since the first M car was launched, BMW's performance division has turned its attention to an all-electric model. The BMW i4 M50 is an M-tweaked car, rather than a red-blooded M machine like the BMW M3 Competition, but it has 795Nm of torque, and can crack 62mph in 3.9 seconds. Is this first M-tuned EV already quicker than the petrol equivalent? Only one way to find out...

This video features a finance representative example (PCP). Based on a car price of £12,750 with a £1,275 deposit at a representative APR of 8.9% and the following: 48 monthly payments of £214.39, a fixed interest rate of 8.8%, option-to-purchase fee of £10, optional final payment of £3,943.00, amount of interest at £2,758.72, total finance amount of £15,508.72.04, annual mileage limit of 10,000 miles and excess mileage charge of 3p per mile.

00:00 Introduction
00:30 BMW M3 Competition driving
02:40 M3 and i4 walkaround
04:50 BMW i4 M50 driving
11:05 Laptime comparison
12:30 Times and conclusion

#cinch #bmw #i4 #m50 #m3 #competition

[rolandcook]

A couple of observations from an M50 owner:
- In sports mode you have 533hp not 468.
- Sports boost give you faster acceleration.
- You have 2 sets of brakes; regenerative braking and mechanical caliper
- It is heavy, torque steers on the standard Michelin tyres, and doesn’t feel as nimble as an ICE equivalent.
On the road I love it and you can happily play with Ferraris etc to your heart’s content.

[DESMX]

by the time you did a hot lap the state of charge was 48% or even below... that's not exactly fair to the M50, since you should be at least around 80-90% doing a hot lap, worst case 70% but not below 50%. Also, as some others have noted you either weren't in sport boost or the car somehow stopped boosting. Finally, to get the max output until the car stops, you need to use launch control for the initial start - this way it keeps the highest HP & Torque, without it the car drops the curve when going over ~160kmh

[ChristopherBennett]

Can you help me understand why there is no blue boost bar on the M50 on the hotlap? if you were in sports Boost it should show a blue boost bar for 10 seconds each time you hit the throttle and keep it down for the 10 secs of max boost as this will give you 534BHP not the 460 you quoted earlier in the video? it wouldn't have affected the result but probably knock a second off that difference given that 70bhp is the difference between and M3 and an M5 of old! I can't see the state of charge but it might not have allowed full boost if to low on charge?

[chriscostacosta]

Makes you wonder what depreciation will be on these high performance petrol engines be with electric bmw electric coming on to the scene .they could sky rocket in used values or drop like elevator

[leemarshall]

Would love to see how much wear is put on the tyres in the M50 driving round a track. 2 great cars though.

[ChristopherBennett]

wow this is turning into my friday obsession! I've just ran the two videos side by side and he is using GPS data.. in your final 5 secs of max acceleration you reach 83mph at line from 50mph . Auto topNl is 107mph in the same frame by frame. So something isn't correct- you can physically see how slow it is accelerating on your speedo. AutopNl is the king of draggy and has a massive history of timed runs to check- something isn't right with either the mode or conifg you had on the M50 :(

[cinch]

Did the result surprise you? Let us know in the comments. And don't forget to subscribe to see what exciting vids we have coming up...

[RobertBlow]

Great presenter and driver. Thanks Sam.

[adrianbunyard]

Goo presenter this guy is. Love his reviews

[austinlam]

Fully Charged m50 and run the test again

[jaysen]

I thought the i4 had a max of 541 hp which is equivalent to the m3

[reidhester]

It's so much fun to drift around curves ;-)

[hondahr]

hello, great cars, but I still think the electric BMW is very heavy, it has weak brakes for its weight and there is no chance with m3 due to the weight..excellent video